HiSky plans to operate first service since Delta cut flights in 2009.
A HiSky A330 (Photo: HiSky)
Romanian low-cost airline HiSky has announced plans to launch flights from Romania to New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport next summer. The route will be the first connecting the two countries in over 10 years. Tickets are already on sale for a route launch on June 7, 2024.
HiSky’s route will operate four times per week leaving Romania on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Flights will leave Bucharest at 8:00 a.m. local time and arrive in New York at 11:25 a.m. The return flight will leave New York at 1:25 p.m. and arrive in Bucharest at 6:15 a.m. the next morning.
HiSky will operate an Airbus A330 on the route. It will not only be the first widebody aircraft in HiSky’s fleet but also the first A330 registered in Romania.
“This is a significant milestone for HiSky and even more so for Romania and all passengers wishing to travel across the ocean without stopovers or time wasted at other airports,” HiSky CEO Iulian Scorpan said in a statement.
“The USA is now a viable travel option for the first time since air travel became accessible to everyone. We are delighted to be the ones paving this way,” Scorpan continued.
Bucharest’s Henri Coandă Airport is HiSky’s primary airport and its main operational base. Additional international routes from the airport include Brussels, Barcelona, Malaga, Dublin, Chișinău, Bordeaux, Tel Aviv, and Frankfurt in addition to a handful of domestic routes.
The carrier’s fleet consists entirely of narrowbody Airbus A320 family aircraft. The addition of the A330 will be an easy transition due to relative continuity with the company’s other Airbus aircraft. It also gives the airline time to adjust to widebody operations as it looks to further expand its long-haul fleet around the world.
Long-haul, low-cost airlines have had mixed performance, especially over the past decade. Some companies, such as French Bee and Azul, have thrived while others, such as Norwegian and WOW Air, faced high-profile downfalls.
HiSky has the benefit of cornering its own market instead of competing on popular, business-heavy routes. Historically, the long-haul low-cost airlines that perform best are those who can find their own market niches. Whereas Norwegian’s long-haul network featured routes like London to New York, French Bee focuses more on connecting Paris’ secondary airports to leisure destinations where people are more cost-conscious.
Without any competition, HiSky will combine the benefit of flying into an American city with the ease of taking charge of its own unique market.
The last airline to operate between New York and Bucharest was Delta Air Lines, who cut the route in 2009. TAROM also operated the route until 2003. Air Canada Rouge flew from Toronto and Montreal to Bucharest until 2019.
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